micrometer you
by Rasielis
Summary: He was given a heart. A heart that can only express kindness but would go wrong when it encounters love.


The afternoon sunlight streamed across the room followed by the light soft breeze. It swirled inside and gently caressed the inhabitant's skin. Moving to her side, she pulled the covers to cover herself once again so she could protect herself from the attack of chills.

Her covers was pulled back again. The hairs on her back rose as effect of the visiting breeze. Groaning, she pulled back the covers and kicked off her feet. A cat meowed in reaction to what she's doing.

"Ugh," she pushed the covers and sat up. "How can I ever get some sleep with this cat...?"

She glanced around, seeing nothing but the cat which found some past time by scratching his ear. She breathed out a distressed sigh and without anything to do and having the desire to not sleep anymore, she slid on her rabbit shoes and stood up.

She walked to the attached living room of her apartment and prepared herself a cup of coffee. Because of her current project, sleep had become so scarce that she often had micro sleep episodes. And all she could do was pray for the time she can finally finish this hellish new project of hers.

A knock was heard across the apartment room. She stared at the clock attached to her wall, checking if the time was right. The knocks continued on the door like persistent raindrops on roof surfaces. Taking a last sip of her coffee, she lead her feet to the door and opened it slightly.

"Are you... Miss Tono?" the person by the door asked. He was standing tall and stiff in front of her. The air around him was authoritative; she couldn't help but wonder what kind of person he is.

"Yeah, that's me," she replied, raising a questioning brow. "And you are?"

"Midorima Shintaro," he pulled a small card out of his breast pocket and passed it to her. "I was tasked by the Kiseki Agency to guide you with your project."

"Ah..." she stared at the card for awhile, her eyes scanning the silvery signature of Kiseki Agency. A signature that belonged to the most authoritative, most talented, and most intelligent man she ever came across. No other than Akashi Seijuro. Her brow rose once again as she returned the card to him. "No thanks. I don't need your help. I can..." she paused for momentum. "I can manage on my own."

She held the edge of her door and was about to push it close but a hand pushed it wider, and the stiff male entered without as much as delicacy or any care for her privacy.

"Whether you like it or not, I will stay with you until you are able to manage your project," Midorima remarked, his voice filled with undulated stern and finality. "This is Akashi's order. Once you disobey, we have no choice but remove you from service and take all that supports you financially."

His words took her aback. She glanced away. Such a punishment was something she wouldn't want to get. After all, it was all she has for a living. Losing her connections with the Kiseki Agency and with her Home Group would lead to her walking the streets without anything but her stubborn cat.

She sighed in defeat as she closed the door behind them. "There's not much of a choice, is there?"

"None."

Thus, her supposed to be peaceful life started to shatter to pieces.

* * *

Of all the males that she ever encountered in her life, Midorima Shintaro was the most difficult to understand. First, he was too strict about almost everything. He pushed her to eat proper three meals a day, always making sure that her diet's proper and she's consuming everything properly. Second, he was too hardworking; often times scratching out her diagrams and sketches or crumpling them and throwing them on her trash can once he deemed it as useless. Third, he doesn't let her sleep past the supposed bed time. He always made sure that she's able to sleep at least six-eight hours a day. If she missed an hour or two, she was allowed to consume those hours for sleeping. Sometimes, she cannot understand how she can actually finish her project that way.

As days passed by, all she could see was 35% of her work, slowly progressing and might not even get the actual deadline. She breathed out a sigh, stretching her arms while she's at it. Gazing around for some sign of Midorima and seeing not even a shadow of him, she stood up and walked to the kitchen. She prepared herself a glass of water and casually walked to the living room, about to take the remote control when her eyes caught a stiff figure on her couch.

Curiously, she walked to the figure. It was Midorima, sleeping. The stern, strict and workaholic male she had ever known. He looked peaceful and he slept soundly producing soft snores every second. She smiled to herself and shook her head lightly.

"Well what can I say," she walked to the nearby closet and pulled a blanket. He walked to him and covered him with the blanket. "He's human after all. He gets tired too."

She sat at the love seat opposite the couch and sipped at her glass silently. Since she felt conscience prickling her, she started redoing her sketches, carefully putting one detail after the other. Midorima had always been looking after her as a sent agent. And this was the first time she ever saw him rest.

She wasn't too cruel to not notice what he was doing. Besides, he was pretty helpful with the way he changed her lifestyle in the span of a few days. Getting a balanced diet and occasional exercise made her brain worked more actively than before. Having a complete night rest also helped in stopping her from having micro sleep episodes and almost drowsy times.

Maybe... just maybe... she'll actually get used to this.

She was too busy with her work that she doesn't notice him move from the couch, the white blanket sliding off from his body a little. His blurred vision traced her outline at the love seat. He inched forward and reached for his glasses. He placed it on his line of vision, finally seeing her clearly.

"Tono-san?"

She raised her eyes from her sketch for a while and smiled lightly. "Hey, g'morning."

He checked his wristwatch and returned his gaze to her, unimpressed. "It's already three in the afternoon. Can you not tell the difference between morning and afternoon?"

"Artists don't have a sense of time," she replied with a shrug._ Geez, this guy doesn't know jokes at all... what a gloomy one..._

He ignored her last sentiment and stood up, immediately disappearing on her kitchen, probably preparing something for the afternoon snack. For once, she felt relief spread through her like butterflies fluttering in the wind. It wasn't a bad feeling at all, mostly something to put her at ease.

He returned with a bowl of freshly baked cookies and sat beside her. His gaze was intent on her new sketches while she picked cookies from the bowl. She half consumed a cookie and half worked on her sketches.

"Isn't the arm too long?" he pointed out, his finger on the sketched arms. "Look at my arm, it's not that long." He outstretched it for her and she fixated her gaze at it, calculating measurements on her mind.

"Okay, thanks." She pulled out her eraser from her pocket and started redoing the arms. As she started correcting it, Midorima pointed out some mistakes also, carefully taking her to the right direction of the design.

For someone from the agency, she never knew someone who can create accurate guesses when it comes to how her sketches would turn out. Nor does she know anyone so knowledgeable about her project. Well, she couldn't expect nothing less from Akashi Seijuro who was for the whole duration of her project, was nice enough to actually help her out.

* * *

She was able to finish the design after three days. For the fourth one, she focused on what she's going to attach on the finished model. Studying possible functions and equipment to help the design gain possible appreciation from her boss.

Midorima told her that the agency was expecting something more avante garde for her project due to the attractions they felt on her previous versions. This version should better sell out upon its release.

"Tono-san," a knock was heard from her lab. Soft taps on the metal door. She saved her work and walked to the door, opening it for the stiff male. Midorima was holding a tray of her afternoon snack, composed of delicacies that she never tasted before due to her constant attention with her work.

"Thanks," she muttered as soon as he settled her meal before her. He nodded and turned to probably return to his work but she stopped him before he could even reach for the door's latch. "Midorima-kun... come back here and sit."

He turned to her. "I believe that you still need to focus on your job. Engaging yourself in idle chatter will not help improve your project."

She shrugged. "Can't you stop being so tight with yourself and rest for awhile?" she finished her snack and removed her lab coat, replacing it with her jacket. "Today, let's go for a walk."

"I cannot possibly allow-"

She rolled her eyes at him and picked up her cat before casually passing by him and walking to her door. He opened his mouth to say something against her decision but then refused as he accompanied her outside.

The afternoon sky was clear, the clouds was unusually scarce while the sun's rays wasn't as harsh as it usually was. The breeze was also soft and soothing to the skin.

"Ah... it's really good to go outside from time to time," she raised her arms and waved them a little, looking like a crazy clown who wanted attention from kids.

Midorima couldn't help but frown at her actions. "May I ask why you're doing such thing?"

"Hmm..." she squeezed her eyes shut, her arms still on the air as a cool zephyr passed them by. "It's just called an artist's sense of seeking Mother Nature."

"Such thing existed?" Midorima asked, the mockery on his voice obviously pressed that she doesn't even dare ask if he meant it or not.

"Of course," she whistled, "We cannot stay locked up on our rooms and create something avante garde quickly. The brain also needs to think out of the box."

Midorima kept his frown, still not believing her. She placed her arms down and pouted at him. Even though he was hardworking, he sure doesn't have the sense of an artist. There was only professionalism on him and his ways.

"Come on, let's go for a boat ride," she offered, opening her wallet and smiling at the enough money there. "My treat."

He glanced at the river and back at her. They could hear the murmurs of the water along with the bristling of the leaves and some squeals of excitement from the people who tried the so-called boat ride.

"Fine..." he said after what seemed like a macrometer of a second.

"Yay," she mockingly raised her fist but isn't hyped from his sign of approval. Side by side they walked to the dock and paid the boat rent. He took the oars from her hands and started with his job. Soon they are sailing across the river, the water crazily slapped theirs sides and touched them without gentleness.

Nonetheless, she enjoyed it and even squealed as a water started to raise and slap her from the side, drenching her jeans without consent. "Yay~! This is what you call life~!"

"I don't get you," Midorima interjected, his stern gaze pinned at his already wet jeans. "I find this less exciting than it should be."

"Lighten up, will you?" she asked with a pout. The male sure knew how to piss of someone who's in a good mood.

"I cannot lighten u-what are you doing?!" he exclaimed in alarm, his stern filled gaze filled with unmasked worry.

She glanced back at him. "Standing?"

He opened his mouth to say something but his words were drowned out when the boat touched a rock and she came along, falling on the rushing water immediately upon losing balance. She struggled to keep her head on the surface while raising both arms to help herself up. However, the current was strong that she was only dragged along.

_Ah... how unfortunate_, she thought as she tried to at least cheer up and forget the fact that she might die any moment if nobody saved her. Midorima seemed to be taking his sweet time at the boat.

Soon though, someone grabbed her up and she felt the familiar texture of the boat behind her back.

"Idiot."

* * *

When she came to, she was lying on her bed with two layers of blankets covering her. Confused, she pulled her blanket up seeing herself clad in thin clothes which she doesn't remember wearing.

She gazed around trying to find any signs of Midorima and her supposed drowning incident. However, everything was all in place and it doesn't look like she's missing anything. She slid on her slippers and went out of the door. She carried one blanket with her, wrapping it across her shoulders. She walked along the halls of her home, glancing around for any sign of the stiff male yet finding none. Only by the time that she reached her kitchen was she able to hear his voice. She opened her mouth and was about to say something when she heard someone else's voice.

"That was risky, Midorin. You can't stay on water for long," a worrisome voice from a female spoke.

"I know," came Midorima's reply. "But I can't let her die..."

There was a tinge of tenderness on the male's voice something that she didn't hear before. The female with him sighed in understanding.

"You just can't let her go, huh?" something in the way the female said the sentence made her head pound. "Even though Akashi-kun gave you a chance, don't you think it's still sad?"

_What? _The pounding went louder, taking away the sound of her surroundings and making everything blur.

"It doesn't matter," Midorima gave off a sound close to a smirk. "After all, this is the..."

She staggered backward and lost consciousness, the nauseating feeling from earlier got the best of her.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she was standing on what seemed to be her lab when she first worked for Kiseki Agency.

She lifted her hand seeing as light passed by it like water as if it was translucent.

She heard a door slam closed on the opposite direction. Her eyes followed it and saw her younger version enter.

This version of her looked angry, her brows scrunched and both of her fists were clenched.

"I can't believe it... how can he do this to me?" this version exclaimed, hitting the side of her fist on her table and started shuffling papers and crumpling them. "You can't do this to me, Shintaro."

_Eh? Shintaro...? Isn't that... _

The dream brightened transporting her to another scene. Her past version gripped a tall familiar male's arm. Tears were freely flowing from her eyes, crying out depleted pleas to the man.

The male turned a little and the current her could feel that stare touch her whole being like _he _knew every single thing about her. She stepped back and everything goes dark.

*_bam*_

She massaged her head which happened to get an unexpected hit on the hard table. "Aw... the hell?"

"Are you alright?" Midorima placed a hand on her shoulder to get a full view of her face.

She sniffed a bit, and shook her head. "I just woke up and in the worst way possible."

Midorima reached out to touch her hurt forehead. She flinched at the pain but doesn't complain. His fingers started massaging her forehead. Slowly, the pain wore off from her injury.

"Whoa, you sure are good at this..." she mumbled to herself, lightly touching her relieved forehead.

He turned away from her and hmmped. "You should choose where to sleep next time, Tono-san."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved off sarcastically. "Anyways, did we go somewhere this afternoon?" she gazed off at the reflection of the sunset on her window. The sun was already sinking on the clouds leaving splashes of gold, orange, yellow and red.

He raised his glasses to his line of vision. "You were sleeping the whole afternoon."

"I was?" she stood up and picked up her cat who meowed and struggled lightly from her hold. "So we didn't do some boat riding?"

"Why would we do something like that?" he asked, raising an irritated brow.

"Artist sense of Mother Nature, remember?"

He raised his glasses once again and breathed out a sigh. "We did that yesterday and you unfortunately you nearly drowned."

She nodded, relieved that it wasn't a dream. She placed her cat down and smiled at him. "Midorima-kun, let's eat out today?"

He checked his wristwatch and the papers sprawled before them. "I'd prefer staying here, who knows what will happen to you again?"

She shrugged, "We're going out, okay?"

She went to her room quickly before Midorima can even voice out an objection. Somehow, she cannot remember what happened after she woke up yesterday. She just felt a gaping hole in her chest.

* * *

"Do you know...?" she cut the meat into four small pieces and took one on her mouth. "The Home Group asked me to remove one part from the project."

He finished swallowing and raised his glasses. "Yes, I am aware about it. Why?"

She bit the next slice of meat thoughtfully. "Well... they're asking me to remove the heart."

"What about the heart?"

She took half of the contents of the martini on her left. "The first person who started with the AndroProject added hearts to his model and I'm planning to add some common emotions on my model."

He swallowed his meal before speaking, his gaze anywhere but her. "Have you forgotten?"

She gave him a quizzical look, willing him to continue.

"The first models are not allowed to have access of love even though they have hearts. Their hearts are only created for the sake of making them have conscience, common human understanding and additional to their physical attributes."

He consumed all of his drink and merely sighed. "It's their only difference from humans."

She tilted her head to the side, "That sounds familiar. So what happens if ever they get access on love?"

He paused, the shadows created by the candles danced on his glasses. An uncomfortable silence started to hold them. She shifted in discomfort, quickly regretting her decision of asking such a silly question.

"A-Ah... I'm sorry," she forced herself to speak and immediately looked away, embarrassed.

"If they get access of love," he took a deep breath, as if the air started to be humid and choking. "They will malfunction and eventually break down. They cannot even hope for a repair."

Her eyes widened in surprise, the words sinking in deeper and deeper on her psyche. "I... Did I hear it somewhere...? Somehow that sound crazy."

He shook his head and continued with his meal. "It isn't."

"Are there any alternatives?"

He paused again before finally sighing, "I'm not sure if there is. But I believe in a way, it's useless for them to even have a heart."

She blinked thrice, seeing something on Midorima that she always failed to notice. The way he seemed to look despaired when he talked about the AndroProject and when he correct every points in her project. There was something else he's not planning to tell her.

* * *

After roughly two weeks, her model was already standing. All of its parts were complete and also most of his functions. The only thing that she's going to add was its skin to make it look closer to a human being.

"This looks like you're going to succeed," Midorima pointed out as soon as he gave it a glance and he checked out its main functions.

Her heart swelled in pride, it was the first time she ever felt she's going to finally accomplish something. "It's all thanks to you, Midorima-kun. Your strict upholding paid off~"

"Hmph. Flattery wouldn't get you anywhere." He hid a small smile after he said that, thus making her snicker.

"Acting modest sure brings you somewhere, hmm..."

"I don't think it would."

She shrugged and laughed a little. Having Midorima around made just not the work handy but also made her feel that she needed someone to be there. She was usually alone for how long she can even remember.

The stiff male was able to adjust to most of her whims too. Well, only after a lot of complaining and debates but still he always find himself coming along.

She cannot even imagine what would happen after her project's done.

"Tono-san, would you like to go stargazing?"

She turned to him, an easy smile quick to resurface from her face. "Sure."

He motioned her to open the windiw while he set up the telescope. When he finished fixing it, he took a brief glance before letting her take over.

She looked through the telescope's lens and smiled in appreciation. "Ah, if we're in the country side we'll surely see more."

"I agree."

She satisfied herself in looking at the stars. They glimmered like diamonds in the blanket of darkness. "Here take a lo-"

She paused. Their faces were too close to one another that she could feel his hot breath fanning her face. His eyes were pinned on her lips while hers was on his. Her mind went blank and her world crashed to silence. She closed her eyes and inched closer, her lips slowly captured his. He hesitated for awhile but as she latched her arms around his nape, his arms held her by the waist and they shared something that felt so familiar to her heart.

* * *

"Gloves?" she asked, tilting her head to the side."What's with that?"

Midorima raised it to his view and slowly nodded."It does look weird."

She placed some skin on the model's lower thigh. "What would you need that for?"

"It's nothing."

She glanced at him and though he doesn't look away, his eyes are devoid of any emotion. She lightly shrugged and resumed her work. After they kissed a few days prior, something changed between them. She was sure that she's starting to have feelings for him while he doesn't show anything, only coming to her apartment strangely covering more of his body. In fact, only his head's free of cover. He looked like he caught a cold or something.

He seemed to clam up more too, their conversation's gradually started to lessen.

Frowning, she completed the skin covering for both legs, breaking off a sweat after doing so.

"Here for the torso," he said, his hands carried a plate filled with skin.

"Thanks," she smiled lightly and turned back to her work. Because he doesn't talk that much now, she kept her focus on her work so she wouldn't feel , she missed teasing him, she reminded herself of her own boundaries.

Maybe he's just being strict now because they only have five days before the deadline. And she couldn't blame him because she can only do things freely if he's lax.

"It's lunch time," Midorima patted her shoulder and for some reason, his hand was hard. When she turned to ask, he quickly pulled back and motioned the table.

After that, Midorima made sure to avoid any skin contact with her which was weird. He was acting as if he was sick and it will be risky for her to catch it. She sighed, at first letting the guy be. As days passed by, he seemed to be pushing the distance further. She only had two more days to be with him and the obvious signs of goodbye doesn't make her feel comfortable. Determined, she decided to talk to him right after the recess wherein he excused himself to go somewhere. She shoved the tuna sandwich to her mouth and drank a glass full of water before casually walking off to find him.

"Midorima-kun?"

She called out again but no one replied to her calls. Frowning, she continued to search while calling for him. Still only a period of silence ensued. And another period of silence. And another one passed by. Her shoulders slumped as she retired on her couch about to give up. _Well, if he wants to ignore me 'til the last day then so be it. That stubborn guy._

She grabbed the remaining skin parts on the table and pushed herself up, just as she was about to take a step back to her lab, she heard a loud crash. Alarmed, she went to where she pushed the skin parts back, some of them spilling from the container. She called out to Midorima as she started opening doors and slamming them close. It took a lot of turning backs and opening doors before she finally spotted him. He was near her model and since it was dark, she cannot see him properly. She turned to the switch and turned the lights on.

"M-Midorima-kun, I'm glad I…" she stopped dead on her tracks when he turned to her. The half of his face was the same as the design she created for her model. A face created from connected wires and metal frames. A face of an android.

"Tono-san…" he mumbled bitterly. A small smile curled up his lips while the revealed one struggled to bring up its metal ones. "Ah, no… since you found out, I might as well call you Sayaka."

She swallowed hard, still cannot comprehend, nor believe what's happening in front of her. Maybe it was a dream, which she was having again. It must have been just some prank for her to concentrate on finishing her model in time. Or maybe it was just a trick of the eye.

He laughed lightly as if he was able to read what was in her mind. "No, this is not your imagination, Sayaka. You have seen me in this form before." He glanced at her model, the ghost of a smile still dawned on his still human face.

"W-What?" she forced herself to speak, her vision turning hazy as her head started to pound, the same sensation she felt before in a dream.

He breathed out a faux sigh, "I am one of the First models of the AndroProject. You were an aspiring trainee that time and I was given to you for maintenance after I nearly got half of my torso smashed."

She remained silent, the tendrils of memories inched closer one by one and spin wildly on her head.

"We were not allowed to love… I know that from the start. But you changed everything for me. You taught me not to continue getting tied down by the one who created me," he passed his fingers along the delicate mechanisms of her model. The model that the _two _of them planned and created. "And before I knew it, I was able to access love. But as I told you before, it will lead me to malfunctioning."

She remembered her dream, the time where she saw her past version begging him not to leave her. Begging him to believe that she will find a way out of the problem. Begging him to not abandon hope like he did when she first met him. Begging him to believe in the feeling called 'love', not in the solitary means that the two of them can touch.

"Akashi doesn't want to lose any of the first models so to fix me, I was reprogrammed, and you lost your memories."

She clenched her fists, her breathing was ragged as she tried to find a way to breathe. She cannot bear what he's saying. She cannot bear the obvious sign of him disappearing. Of him flying away from her just as she was able to finally catch him.

"I cannot stop loving you though, Sayaka." He turned to her, the stern features was back in his face, a solid mask to cover what he really feels. What an android like him shouldn't feel at the moment. "I soon found my old memory chip and I was willing to fight for you."

He removed his gloves revealing the already turned robotic hands. "But it seems like I still cannot go against the one who made me." He motioned the model in front of them and gave it another thorough look. "Even ordering you to create another model of me and removing the heart… he's really something…"

"This is unfair…" she started walking to him, her hands stretching forward as she stumbled. He caught her in his stiff arms and embraced her with what's left of his human self. "This is unfair… Shintaro. You promised that you won't leave me…"

Tears started to form from the edges of her eyes, bulging as it was released and fell like pristine raindrops on his metallic frame. "You said that you'd be with me forever."

"I can't…" he said, his voice merely cracking and almost near to sounding like a chalk scrapping a black board. "This is karma. I already broke the rules…"

She wrapped her arms around his metal frame and started sobbing, pleading for this to turn to dream. For this to change once she wake up. For this to remain something of a myth that Midorima's creator made. For her not to say goodbye. For him not to disappear.

"I love you…" she muttered, pulling his face to her teary ones. "I love you…" she sobbed as she slowly pressed her lips on his, half feeling the real texture of a human's and feeling the complicated wire design of an android. She waited for a response. A positive one that might give her hope, something that can tell her that she can still fix this as someone who succeeded the secrets of the first creator of the AndroProject. She waited and waited… but nothing came, only the sound of the gears which first persistently rubbed against one another until they finally stopped and whirred close.

* * *

A/N: Presenting to you a Mido fic for his birthday, which was revised one day late so it's uploaded now ^-^ Anyways, I know I should be updating stuff lately but at the moment, I can't so on my remaining vacation time, I'll try to at least update once or thrice. (:


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